Hawaii Governor Mandates Net Neutrality in Contracts

Add Hawaii Gov. David Ige to the growing list of state execs mandating net neutrality from ISPs in state broadband contracts.

Ige this week signed an executive order to that effect, which said that it was an effort to "preserve the basic principle of the free and open exchange of information, secured by a free and open internet."

The order requires state agencies to contract for 'net-related services only with ISPs who agree contractually not to "hinder, throttle, restrict or prioritize internet content, applications or certain data streams.

Starting this week, all contracts must include language to that effect.

Hawaii follows New Jersey, Montana and New York, all of whose governors' have signed similar orders as a response to the FCC's Dec. 14 vote to eliminate the rules against blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.

The resolution says the FCC voted “to end net neutrality protections. “The FCC Republican majority that voted for the rule rollback argue it is instead voting to shift enforcement of protections to the Federal Trade Commission or Department of Justice.

The FCC rule rollback says it preempts state’s own efforts to regulate the net, but it is unclear how that applies to state contracts.

Ige has been a name in the news lately after his state's erroneous nuclear missile attack emergency alert spooked residents and led to an FCC investigation.